Night Vision Enhancement Research Articles

Real Time Night Vision Surveillance using Improved Dark Channel Prior

Videos taken under low lighting conditions usually result in severe loss of visibility and contrast and are uncomfortable for observation and analysis. Night vision cameras that cater to the needs are expensive and less versatile. To be cost effective and extract maximum information from videos taken in low lit conditions, video enhancing techniques must be used. Though there are many night vision enhancement techniques available in literature, this paper particularly emphasizes about Improved Dark Channel Prior algorithm and its results. This approach suits well for real time night video enhancement. It has been found that a pixel-wise inversion of a night video appears very similar to the video obtained during foggy days. The same idea of haze removal approach is used to boost the visual quality of night videos. An improved dark channel prior model is presented that is integrated with Gaussian Pyramid operators for local smoothing. The experimental results show that the proposed method can boost the perceptual quality of detailing in night videos.

Highly Doped Upconversion Nanoparticles for In Vivo Applications Under Mild Excitation Power.

One of the major challenges in using upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) is to improve their brightness. This is particularly true for in vivo studies, as the low power excitation is required to prevent the potential photo toxicity to live cells and tissues. Here, we report that the typical NaYF4:Yb0.2,Er0.02 nanoparticles can be highly doped, and the formula of NaYF4:Yb0.8,Er0.06 can gain orders of magnitude more brightness, which is applicable to a range of mild 980 nm excitation power densities, from 0.005 W/cm2 to 0.5 W/cm2. Our results reveal that the concentration of Yb3+ sensitizer ions plays an essential role, while increasing the doping concentration of Er3+ activator ions to 6 mol % only has incremental effect. We further demonstrated a type of bright UCNPs 12 nm in total diameter for in vivo tumor imaging at a power density as low as 0.0027 W/cm2, bringing down the excitation power requirement by 42 times. This work redefines the doping concentrations to fight for the issue of concentration quenching, so that ultrasmall and bright nanoparticles can be used to further improve the performance of upconversion nanotechnology in photodynamic therapy, light-triggered drug release, optogenetics, and night vision enhancement.

A treatise to vision enhancement and color fusion techniques in night vision devices

In this article a vast literary and ample historic review has been examined to provide in detail introduction, knowledge and comparison of night vision imaging techniques. It unveils night vision enhancement methods described in the recent times such as contrast enhancement; color transfer based clustering, fast color contrast enhancement and pseudo-color fusion algorithm for self-adaptive enhancement system along many others. Furthermore, the scientific and mathematical details are elaborated along with the mechanisms used image fusion techniques, color mapping, histogram matching and statistical evaluation. Conclusively, the channel based color fusion technique stood out through statistical and perceptual analysis.

Effect of Different Information Provided by Night Vision Enhancement Systems on Driving Behavior

Effect of Different Information Provided by Night Vision Enhancement Systems on Driving Behavior

Effect of Different Types of Infrared Images Used in Night Vision Enhancement Systems on Driver's Avoidance Actions to Moving Pedestrians

Effect of Different Types of Infrared Images Used in Night Vision Enhancement Systems on Driver's Avoidance Actions to Moving Pedestrians

Pedestrian Detection with near and far Infrared Night Vision Enhancement

Current headlighting and road lighting are only partly effective in reducing the risk of driving at night. To further reduce this risk, two major sensing technologies for night vision systems have been receiving particular development interest: near infrared (NIR) systems, which actively illuminate the scene in the near infrared spectrum and capture the reflected radiation, and far infrared (FIR) systems, which generate images by passively detecting thermal emissions. To compare pedestrian detection with night vision systems, a test vehicle equipped with an NIR and an FIR system was driven at night on several roads with pedestrians standing along the route. Video clips, recorded from both systems simultaneously, were later shown in a laboratory to 16 subjects (eight younger than 30 years and eight older than 64 years). Subjects pressed a button as soon as they saw each pedestrian. Detection distances with FIR were, on average, three times greater than with NIR. For both systems, detection distances of younger subjects were about 1.7 greater than of older drivers. The effectiveness of night vision systems can be expected to depend on inherent advantages of either technology as well as the details of implementation. To the extent that the two systems used in this experiment reasonably represent the respective technologies, the results support the expected enhancement of pedestrian detection in FIR systems.

Evaluation of Six Night Vision Enhancement Systems: Qualitative and Quantitative Support for Intelligent Image Processing

An evaluation study was conducted to answer the question of which system properties of night vision enhancement systems (NVESs) provide a benefit for drivers without increasing their workload. Different infrared sensor, image processing, and display technologies can be integrated into an NVES to support nighttime driving. Because each of these components has its specific strengths and weaknesses, careful testing is required to determine their best combination. Six prototypical systems were assessed in two steps. First, a heuristic evaluation with experts from ergonomics, perception, and traffic psychology was conducted. It produced a broad overview of possible effects of system properties on driving. Based on these results, an experimental field study with 15 experienced drivers was performed. Criteria used to evaluate the development potential of the six prototypes were the usability dimensions of effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction (International Organization for Standardization, 1998). Results showed that the intelligibility of information, the easiness with which obstacles could be located in the environment, and the position of the display presenting the output of the system were of crucial importance for the usability of the NVES and its acceptance. All relevant requirements are met best by NVESs that are positioned at an unobtrusive location and are equipped with functions for the automatic identification of objects and for event-based warnings. These design recommendations and the presented approach to evaluate the systems can be directly incorporated into the development process of future NVESs.

22.1: Invited Paper: An Integrated HMI Concept for Driver Information and Driver Assistance Systems

AbstractIn modern vehicles, we are faced with a rapidly increasing flood of information to the driver. In addition to established information systems such as: radio, vehicle monitoring, mobile phones, high class vehicles feature navigation systems almost as a standard today. Currently, driver assistance and collision mitigation and collision avoidance systems are being integrated in vehicles.Future vehicle information systems will provide this huge amount of information mainly in two information centers: amore or less reconfigurable instrument cluster with driver relevant information and a center console display with driver and passenger relevant information. for these systems an appropriate bundling of the information, in conjunction with menu‐prompted operating techniques, is essential both, technically and ergonomically.First generation Night vision enhancement systems with image presentation in the dashboard have been introduced into the market. This puts new demands on the Human Machine Interface and Human Machine Interaction as well.In 2006, an updated version of the European Statement of Principles (ESoP) on human machine interface (HMI) for in‐vehicle information and communication systems has been published. It replaces the previous version from 1999 and takes new development in consideration. Also in 2006, a first proposal for a Code of Practice for the Design and Evaluation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) was published.

Night vision enhancement for vehicles

Almost 50 % of all fatal accidents occur at night although only one fifth of all trips take place at night. For this reason, systems improving night-vision capabilities can contribute significantly to reducing accidents. At present the far-infrared-based system (FIR) and the near-infraredbased system (NIR) are being discussed in public. Both have strengths and weaknesses, both being discussed in this article by Robert Bosch GmbH, Leonberg, Germany.

72.1: Automotive Night Vision System with Picture Presentation

First generation Night vision enhancement systems with image presentation in the dashboard have been introduced on the market. Far Infrared and Near Infrared systems are currently competing technologies. The camera picture is presented either with a Head-up display on the windscreen or in the dashboard region. An arbitrarily configurable LC display located in the instrument cluster was found to meet best the requirements of a quick and distraction-free reading. A precondition for a quick recognition and identification of relevant obstacles is a highcontrast and brilliant picture quality. To achieve this, picture quality improvement means have been applied. Such a setup has been selected for the new Mercedes S-Class.

Integration of night-vision and head-up display in vehicles

Night vision enhancement based on electronics is a very recent development within the field of driver assistance solutions. Night vision systems, as they are usually called, support the driver in a borderline situation of human perception in order to lower the risk of accidents. The ergonomics of displaying the vision enhanced image are one of the key issues of night vision solutions. Siemens VDO Automotive has developed two night vision technologies to functional maturity and has tested various image display locations in the cockpits of a passenger car and a commercial vehicle. This paper gives a current status of the findings so far and focuses on explaining the potential that lies in integrating night vision solution and head-up display.